Big Hero 6 review

How to train your nurse-bot…

Our Verdict

After Frozen, Disney delivers a heart-melter. The sweet, witty main pairing focuses a potentially busy, derivative super-group tale. Stay for the sting: Big Hero 7 is practically a given.

How to train your nurse-bot…

Michael Bay’s Autobots have nothing on young inventor Hiro’s microbots. Once assembled into group formations by human braincontrol, beating bigger ’bots in back-alley fights isn’t all they’ve got. Treated with love, they can combine to assume any shape imaginable, building wondrous worlds.

A grief-based link between Disney fairytales and superheroes is set first via our Hiro (Ryan Potter), a 14-year-old orphan who suffers another family loss. E.T.-style, his hurt is salved by “personal healthcare companion” Baymax, a softvoiced (Scott Adsit) marshmallow mash-up of Totoro, WALL•E’s EVE and an eMac.

The cute care provider looks like merch potential on chubby legs, but he disarms even when Hiro weaponises him to tackle a supervillain wielding Hiro’s stolen bots. The heart and humour in Baymax is well sustained: as he gets tipsy (E.T. echoes), diagnoses Hiro’s moods and keeps his barbell eyes out for collateral damage during a car chase, Baymax brings klutzy, gentle touches to city-sized superhero carnage.

The fantasy city of San Fransokyo builds inventive bridges between East and West in nifty gags like the Golden Gate Bridge’s Japanese beams. Its population, a pioneer project for Disney’s ‘Denizen’ programme, easily matches 2014’s similarly bustling The Book Of Life.

The Disney-dished life lessons (study is good, revenge is bad…) are navigated with brisk sincerity. And that’s fine: messages about nurturing potential are easy to swallow in a film so well-nurtured. “Are you satisfied with your care?” goes Baymax’s catchphrase. Guaranteed.

The Verdict

4

4 out of 5

big hero 6

After Frozen, Disney delivers a heart-melter. The sweet, witty main pairing focuses a potentially busy, derivative super-group tale. Stay for the sting: Big Hero 7 is practically a given.